By Eddie Merla, DTM, PMP

"It has been said that we understand everything through the context provided by story." - Mark Victor Hansen

The Power of Storytelling

Storytelling is not just for kids. It is a vital tool for project managers seeking to communicate complex problems, establish relationships, connect with difficult stakeholders, and create compelling visions. Stories connect in ways that other forms of communication cannot. If you are a project manager or any other kind of leader, you should develop your storytelling skills. The following are seven tips that you can begin using immediately as a Project Manager or leader to improve your storytelling skills.

Tip 1: Know Your Audience

You should strive to know your audience. Consider such factors as cultural differences, personality traits, backgrounds, knowledge, needs, and state of mind. Put yourself in your listeners' place. By taking the initiative to understand your audience, you will enhance the power of your story and help bridge barriers to communicate effective messages.

Tip 2: Mine Your Knowledge

You don't have to look far to find stories to support your objectives or your project. You can mine your own knowledge. You are a story. You own the story of who you are. You own the story of what you want or need. Your life is a series of stories. Your project is a series of stories. Take stock of your personal, business and project knowledge. The stories exist. You just have to mine them.

Tip 3: Record Your Performance

Make it a habit to record your presentations and storytelling opportunities either through voice or video recorders. By recording and listening to your presentations, you will learn to improve; you will learn what works and discover areas for improvement.

Tip 4: Read Stories

Read stories to improve your appreciation of stories and the development of stories. Stories are everywhere. You can develop your own storytelling skills by observing how other stories are crafted and used to influence, educate or just entertain.

Tip 5: Tell Stories to Make a Point

Define your point clearly. Ask yourself what you want your audience to do, feel or think differently as a result of making your point. The find the story or stories to make that point. Make a point, tell a story, and make your point again.

Tip 6: Know Your Message

Simple but clear messages are the keys to communicating, influencing, and leading effectively. Your message should be simple and easy to convey with your story. A guideline to use in developing your message is write it down - if you have to use more than one sentence to define your message, it needs to be revised.

Tip 7: Make Storytelling a Habit

Make storytelling and improving your storytelling skills a habit. Join a storytelling club or join Toastmasters to get stage time and enhance your skills. Learn to develop your unique voice. By sharing your stories, you will enhance your sphere of influence and you will grow as an individual and as a leader.

Eddie Merla, DTM, PMP, is the owner and founder of Duende Project Management Services, a U.S. based provider of Project Management Training and Consulting services. He has also recently served a year-long term as a District Governor for Toastmasters. He can be contacted at www.duendepm.com.

Mr. Merla presented "Storytelling is for Kids…and Project Managers at PMI^® Global Congress 2009—Asia Pacific.

Each year, PMI awards the PMI Component Awards to PMI components to recognise their exceptional achievements. This year, PMI Mumbai Chapter is proud to receive the award for PMI Component of the Year.

Tejas V. Sura, B.E., M.S., PMP, president, PMI Mumbai Chapter expresses his pride in being recognised by PMI. His gratitude also goes to the committed team of board members, past and present, and their "passion, dedication and hard work, which has driven PMI Mumbai Chapter into a very active component in PMI."

Mr. Sura attributed the chapter's success to a result-oriented mission and strategy set out by the chapter's management team, and the hard work put in to achieve the various goals and objectives.

R.V. Joshi, M. Tech., D. I. M., PMP, vice-president of communications, pointed out that the chapter strives to meet the expectations of its members through the initiation and expansion of many networking, knowledge-sharing and certification programmes throughout the years.

The chapter is also very active in communicating to its members, through the chapter website, monthly email updates and a quarterly journal Prakalp.

The success of PMI Mumbai Chapter has not come without any challenges. Membership retention is still a large challenge the chapter faces. The board also faces problems in succession planning. As Kummar Vaalsalam, vice-president of publications, points out, chapter volunteers and board members may leave the chapter or relocate for various reasons. The chapter must be able to get back-ups up to speed without any disruption to existing functions.

Despite the challenges, Mr. Sura and his team are riding the momentum of this success. They already have plans to increase their membership, create more awareness of PMI through better programmes, and attain ISO certification for the chapter.

The PMI Awards ceremony will be held during PMI^® Global Congress 2009—North America.

Girish Kelkar, B.Engg., president, PMI Pune-Deccan, India Chapter will be receiving the PMI Component Leadership Award in Florida in October, together with the other winners of the PMI Component Awards.

The award is not only an honour for him, as Mr. Kelkar will also receive the award "on behalf of my colleagues on the board of directors, and for all the members of the chapter."

Mr. Kelkar is currently an executive director at Jopasana Software & Systems Ltd (which is part of the CoreObjects Inc. Group of companies.) He has more than 30 years of experience in managing projects, and managing companies. Mr. Kelkar has also been lecturing about project management, business development and leadership development for 15 years.

As the president of the PMI Pune-Deccan, India Chapter, Mr. Kelkar believes that his consultative style of leadership has contributed greatly to the success of the chapter. He forms basic frameworks for consisting of a plan, guidelines and basic policies for necessary tasks, and allows individuals to work freely under this framework.

Mr. Kelkar believes that this gives every individual the chance to contribute to the best of their abilities. Although this is not a simple task, Mr. Kelkar and his team have been able to achieve success through teamwork, dedicated efforts and planned execution.

Mr. Kelkar remains very committed to the work done by the PMI Pune-Deccan, India Chapter. He plans to continue on as a volunteer for the chapter, in whatever capacity required. Mr. Kelkar will receive his award at the PMI Awards Ceremony.

The PMI New Zealand Chapter warmly invites you to the PMINZ Project Management Conference, to be held at the Christchurch Convention Centre from 21–23 October.

Themed "Lead Inspire Deliver: Celebrating Global Significance", the conference aims to inspire you to deliver excellent projects that make a significant difference in today's global environment. Join the conference for a practical yet stimulating programme aimed at delivering the very latest information on inspirational case studies, portfolio and program management, methodologies, skills and tools.

The chapter proudly announces the participation of Gregory Balestrero, PMI CEO and president, who will be speaking on "Project Management as a Strategic Competency."

Other renowned speakers include Peter Hillary, son of the late Sir Edmund Hillary, Mark Biggers, Chief of Project Delivery for MWH Global's $1.3 billion global engineering and construction business, and Mark Mullaly, PMP, one of the principal researchers in the landmark study, Researching the Value of Project Management.

An innovative social programme will provide ample networking opportunities during the course of the conference. Join in the festivities with the PMI New Zealand Chapter as they celebrate their 15^th anniversary.

Visit the conference website at www.pminzconference.com for more details and to register. The chapter looks forward to welcoming you to Christchurch in October.

The PMI Mumbai Chapter held their 67th PMP® Club Meeting at the L.N. Wellingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai on 7 June. The chapter invited Pradeep Pendse, Dean of IT and Business Design at the Institute to share his knowledge and research in the area of Project Leadership in the IT industry, in the Indian context.

Professor Pendse began by describing leadership as both a process and a property: a process to direct and coordinate the activities of a group towards shared objectives, and a property meaning a set of qualities or characteristics attributed to those who successfully employ it.

He explained the difference between leadership and managing, quoting thought leaders. Zaleznik, in 1998, defined leadership as the power to influence the thoughts and actions of others, while managing is about the planning and deployment of resources to achieve an objective. Kotter, also in 1998, defined management as planning, budgeting, organising, staffing, and problem solving while leadership is the establishment of a direction and aligning and motivating people.

Professor Pendse quoted Verma et al, saying that project leadership required a vision of the destination, a compelling reason to get there, a realistic timetable and the capacity to attract a willing team.

Professor Pendse's research was in the area of leadership competencies required by project managers to execute IT projects. He questioned how project managers achieve these competencies and what is the perceived state of project managers in relation to these competencies?

In his survey of 40 software projects from leading Indian IT companies, he identified a list of the top competencies of project mangers. Professor Pendse shared the methods to learn each competency in the table below, where the best learning methods are indicated in bold:

Prof Pendse concluded his presentation by stating the role of Project Manager is important for the success of a project. Leadership is required in software projects and there is a need to develop the competencies required for successfully leading the projects.

Gautam Gangoli, PMP
Executive Member - Communications Committee
PMI Mumbai Chapter

Practitioners of project management are committed to doing what is right and honourable. The profession has set high standards that we aspire to meet in all aspects of our lives-at work, at home, and in service to the profession. The PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct describes the expectations that we have of ourselves and fellow project management practitioners. It articulates the ideals to which we aspire as well as the behaviours that are mandatory in our professional and volunteer roles.

The purpose of the Code is to instil confidence in the project management profession and to help an individual become a better practitioner. But what are the main building blocks of the code? Those would be the four main tenets: Responsibility, Respect, Fairness and Honesty.

• Responsibility is the duty to take ownership for the decisions we make or fail to make, the actions we take or fail to take, and the consequences that result.

• Respect is our duty to show a high regard for ourselves, others, and the resources entrusted to us. Resources entrusted to us may include people, money, reputation, the safety of others, and natural or environmental resources. An environment of respect engenders trust, confidence, and performance excellence by fostering mutual cooperation — an environment where diverse perspectives and views are encouraged and valued.
• Fairness is our duty to make decisions and act impartially and objectively. Our conduct must be free from competing self interest, prejudice, and favouritism.
• Honesty is our duty to understand the truth and act in a truthful manner both in our communications and in our conduct.

And what happens when the above come together as we practice our profession on a daily basis? We foster TRUST. Trust within our teams, trust from our sponsors and trust in the team executing the project from our clients and customers.

We believe that we can advance our profession, both individually and collectively, by living and embracing this Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. We also believe that this Code will assist us in making wise decisions, particularly when faced with difficult situations where our integrity or our values are at risk of being compromised.

For more information on the PMI Code of Ethics, please visit the Ethics section of PMI.org and view the NEW "Ethics and You" video.

There are 45,042 members in the PMI Asia Pacific region as of May, representing over 14 percent of total PMI membership.

Registered Education Providers (R.E.P.s) are organisations approved by PMI to offer project management training for Professional Development Units (PDUs) to maintain your PMI credentials.

There are currently 224 R.E.P. organisations enrolled in the PMI R.E.P. Programme in the Asia Pacific region.

View the R.E.P. Web pages on PMI.org to find a provider of project management education activities and products in your country.

Welcome New R.E.P.s in Asia Pacific

Australia – Being Human Pty. Ltd.

Australia – LogiKal Training International Pty Ltd

If you are organising a PMI event in the Asia Pacific
region and would like us to list it in the e-Link, please
contact SoHyun Kang, Asia Pacific component relations coordinator.

21-23 October
PMI New Zealand Chapter
Project Management Conference 2009

24-25 October
PMI Japan Chapter
PMI Japan Forum 2009

PMI credentials involve a rigorous process designed to ensure the highest possible professional standard. All candidates for Project Management Professional (PMP)^®, Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)^®, Program Management Professional (PgMP)^®, PMI Scheduling Professional(PMI-SP)^® and PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)^® must first meet specific education and experience requirements and then pass an examination.

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